Family
by SophiaOfSlytherin
Summary: Of Bellatrix, Andromeda, Sirius, Narcissa, and Regulus. The Blacks were always family. Family protects each other. Origionally a one-shot but turning it into a series about the Black children.
1. Family

It was hot. But what else could be expected? It was the middle of June. Bellatrix Black, just twelve-years-old, was coming home for the summer. She had just finished her first year at Hogwarts. Hot air swirled around her as she trudged to get to her home. True, she could have flooed from the station, but, as she kept secret from her family, she liked muggle travel. She liked the idea of it taking a while to get somewhere because it gave her time to think. Plus, she liked the heat. She liked the sleepy feeling heat can give to a person, the feeling that a nap was in order. Young Bella pulled her large bags inside and collapsed on the couch. Her mother rushed over and hugged her eldest daughter, glad to have her home. Her sister Cissa, just two at the time, toddled over. Bella picked her up, at which Cissa giggled. A while later, the middle sister, nine-year-old Andromeda came home. Her two braids had hair ajar in all directions and her clothes were torn. Her cheeks were red and bruising, and she had tears hiding in her eyes, just about to burst out. Bella became solomn and put down Cissa. She walked over to her little sister, examined her thoroughly, then spoke.

"Andi?!" said Bella, "What happened to you?!"

With a sniffle, Andromeda said, "Th-these girls were mean.."

"That's terrible!" Bella exclaimed, "Why would they be mean to someone as nice a little girl as you?"

"B-because they wanted m-my doll..." her sister said sadly, "Th-they took her, Bella!"

"I'll get your doll back, I promise," Bella comforted, "Just take me back to the park you were playing at, and I will handle it." Andromeda began to do so, but their mother first made her clean off. She re-braided young Andromeda's hair and got her new clothes. They washed the dirt off of her face, knees, and elbows, and then the two sisters left. Bella and Andi trekked back to the park and found three girls, a little bigger than Andi, maybe ten, playing with her sister's doll.

"Hey," Bella said as she approached the girls, "Aren't you girls a little old to be playing with dolls?"

"We can play with whatever we like," one of the three scoffed, and her friends laughed.

"Not when the doll isn't yours," said brave young Bella, "That's my sisters doll, now you give it back, or I will make you." The girls laughed again. They weren't afraid of little Bella. After all, she was only about as big as them.

With a sigh, Bella said, "Fine, you asked for it..." Not allowed to use magic, Bella had only her own hands to rely on. She yanked the doll from the girl holding it, then tossed it to her sister, and as they walked away, she said, "Remind us not to let you play at this park anymore. The scum here is not worth it."

Bella always stuck up for Andi. Andi was family. Family protects each other.

No one called her, "Andi," anymore. It was Andromeda. She was, after all, in her final year of schooling here at Hogwarts. Seventeen and ready for the world, Andromeda never let anyone get in her way or bring her down. This was a monumental year for not only her, but her cousin Sirius, who was starting his very first year. He'd already been sorted to Gryffindor, a very upsetting fact for the family to learn. He'd already made acquaintances. Boys called Potter, Pettigrew, and Lupin had become his best mates in a short matter of time. But not everyone was his friend.

A seventh-year Slytherin named Lucius Malfoy had decided it would be fun to pick on young Sirius. He would rip Sirius's clothes, spread rumors, destroy his homework (when he did it, which he rarely did), and other cruel things. Andromeda would not hear of it.

One day, Malfoy was being particularly cruel. Him and his so-called "mates" were pushing Sirius down. Each time he stood up, he faced the embarrassment of once again being shoved to the ground and getting a faceful of dirt. They had taken his wand. Sirius was defenceless.

"Malfoy!" Andromeda shouted, "What the hell do you think you are doing?!"

"Nothing," Lucius lied calmly, stepping in Andromeda's line-of-view of Sirius to block him, "Just meeting with my friends is all, Andromeda. No need to curse."

"I'll curse all I damn well feel like!" Andromeda snapped, "And quit lying to me! You're hurting my cousin!" In the time it took to blink, she had drawn her wand and held it aimed at Lucius.

"Now, Andromeda, let's not be rash," Lucius pleaded, "We're just playing with him is all. Do not do something you will later regret.."

"Don't fret your pretty little head, Lucius," Andromeda sneered, "I won't regret this." Wordlessly, Lucius turned into a ferret. She caused him to rise and fall repeatedly, then stuck him at the top of a tree. Then she changed him back.

"Black!" Lucius fumed, "You get me down from here, I tell you, right now!"

"Hmm.. Something still isn't right.." Andromeda puzzled. "Ah, yes, I know! Langlock!" Lucius began to scream, but before a single word could escape, his tongue became glued to the roof of his mouth, silencing him. Andromeda glanced at Lucius's friends, glaring at them threateningly. Each of the boys ran in a different direction. Sirius got up and smiled at his cousin.

"I did have it under control, though," he smirked, trying to keep his new reputation as a punk. Andromeda sighed and shook her head.

Andromeda repelled anyone who wanted to injure, threaten, or just pester Sirius. Sirius was family. She'd always stick up for him.

Sirius didn't get to see Andromeda anymore. She'd been condemned as the family criminal, even burned off of the family tree. The crime: marrying a muggle. A silly crime, Sirius thought, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was now a fourth year himself, and he and his friends James, Peter, and Remus had all grown up a lot. Well, physically. Remus grew up mentally as well, but the others did not mature much. Sirius's younger cousin, Andromeda's little sister, Cissa was thirteen now, a third year. She had become very pretty with fair blonde hair and glowing grey eyes. A strand of her waves would always escape the rest of the bunch and have to be tucked behing her ear ever so delicately. That was her trademark. A person would always know it was her if she was tucking back that hair. Cissa had many boys seeking her heart; some seeked to hold it, and some to break it. Cissa never let anyone that close. Usually. She did once that year.

It was November. Cool wind blew in the open windows. Sirius was walking passed the ladies room on the first floor while on his way to lunch when he had to stop. He didn't move. Just listened. Loud, drawn-out sobs were echoing from the room. These sobs made him stop because they sounded dreadfully familiar. Lily Evans was walking passed, and Sirius, a concerned boy, had to ask her help.

"Lily?" Sirius said, "Are you, er, currently busy?"

"My God, Black!" Lily exclaimed, "You aren't asking me out, are you? Your best mate Potter's had his eye on me for years, and yo-..!"

"No!" Sirius interjected, "I'm not a fool."

"That could be argued..." she muttered.

"I need your help," Sirius said finally.

"Wow, the great Sirius Black requires assistance from little me?" Lily scoffed, "Is this a hidden-camera show?"

"What's a camera?" he asked.

"...Nevermind," said Lily, "What could you possible need my help with?"

"Somebody's crying in the girls room," he patted the door, "and it sounds like my cousin. Could you check?" Lily, suprised at what a caring person Sirius could be, nodded and went in. A moment later she came out and confirmed his suspition. Without a further word, Sirius himself marched into the ladies room. Cissa had locked herself in a stall. She was sobbing senselessly, a rather pitiful scene.

"Narcissa Black, what could you possibly be crying about?" Sirius asked, and Cissa, so suprised, fell to the floor. Sirius tried not to chuckle.

"I-it's nothing," Cissa said, picking herself up and wiping away the trail of tears and eye-liner that was running down her cheek.

"Must be a whole lot of nothing, to make you cry like that," he said, "Now tell me, or I'll owl your mum." Cissa, finding no other option, told her cousin her sad tale. As it turned out, her first crush, her first boyfriend, had broken her heart. She unintentionally told him the name of the boy, as well.

Outraged (and considering himself the only one allowed to hurt Cissa in any possible way), Sirius said, "Hold on one moment." He walked out of the restroom, ignored the screams of girls who were just about to enter, journied to the great hall, and went over to the Slytherin table. He found the boy who had made Cissa cry, turned him around, and punched him in the face. Sirius punched him again. And again. And again.

Sirius was happy to beat up low-lifes for Cissa. Cissa was family. Though he didn't get along with most of the members of his family tree, he'd always protect her.

She was only Cissa, Cissy, or Ciss to family. Everyone in school called her Narcissa now. At sixteen, such immature nicknames were tossed aside. After all, she had already been betrothed to a particular Lucius Malfoy, and what kind of engaged woman could call herself, "Cissa"? Her cousin, Sirius's younger brother, was fourteen. Sirius had, too, been burned from the wall after he ran away about two years ago. Narcissa felt the blow. She was now no longer to communicate with not only her older sister (who now had a child), but her cousin, the cousin who had stuck up for her years ago. She had gone from one-of-five in her generation to one-of-three. Her, Bella (Only called by her full name, Bellatrix), and Regulus were the only ones left.

Regulus was a good boy. He didn't get into trouble like Sirius or Andromeda. He kept level-headed, paid attention in class, respected others, and never got into fights. He was everything Andromeda and Sirius weren't. The family was so proud. Narcissa had always kept level-headed, paid attention, respected others, and she never got into one fight. No one was proud of her. She had Bellatrix as an older role-model, so it was just what was expected. Regulus had Sirius.

Regulus did get himself into trouble once. He had stolen from the potions master, Professor Slughorn. Regulus fancied a girl, but she never spoke to or of him. She didn't even know his name. He stole a love potion, one of the strongest he knew of. As it turned out, Slughorn checked his cabinets and their inventories daily, and when the potion was absent, all fingers pointed to Regulus until Narcissa interviened.

Slughorn had given him detention for every night for two months. The family was so ashamed that perfect Regulus had gotten into trouble. Narcissa wasn't thought of as perfect. She could take the fall.

"Professor Slughorn!" Narcissa said as she burst into his office.

"Yes, Miss Black?" said Slughorn, "Is there something I can assist you with?"

"Regulus didn't take the potion," Narcissa lied convincingly, "It was me, Sir."

"Dear, why?" he asked, "You're betrothed, I've heard, so why would you need a love potion?"

"Well, erm.." Narcissa stuttered, "It's... hard to.. talk about.."

"It's all right, dear," smiled Slughorn kindly, "You can talk to me."

"Well, I'm..." she began, then had an idea. She spit out the words. "I'm scared my fiancee won't love me." She even managed to fake a tear or two.

Slughorn, feeling bad for poor young Narcissa, gave her only one week of detention. Regulus was set free. The family had their perfect child again.

Narcissa always stuck up for Regulus. He was family. Narcissa would always, always do anything for her family, no matter the cost.

Regulus had no younger brother, sister, or cousin to protect. He was the youngest of his generation. He had to spread his family protection in a different way. He chose, once he saw what the dark side was like, to protect the whole world. Everyone, all humans, were his family. Regulus did anything for family. He died for the innocent. He died for family. 


	2. Pass It On

**A/N: I decided to make it a series of stories about the younger days of the Black family. Enjoy!**

The Black children, twelve-year-old Bellatrix, eleven-year-old Andromeda, eight-year-old Sirius, six-year-old Regulus, and five-year-old Narcissa, were guided into the sitting room of Walburga and her husband Orion, the parents of Sirius and Regulus.

Walburga, along with her sister, girls' mother, Druella, sat the children down. Andi glanced from her sister Bella to cousin Siri and back again, as if to ask silently, "What's going on?"

"No idea," Bella mouthed back as Cissa tugged on Bella's skirt playfully with a big, play-with-me pout playing on her lips. Her pout became a frown when Bella didn't turn around.

"Now, Cissy, be still," cooed her mother Druella as she picked up the little blonde girl and placed her back on the floor between her cousins Siri and Reggie.

"Children, now is as good a time as ever to teach you of our family tradition," Walburga began. Siri and Andi pointed their fingers down their throats and protruded their tongues from their mouths in disgust. Bella sat eagerly, ready to cling to each and every word. Cissa and Reggie blinked innocently.

"We expect you've noticed the interesting names our family features." Druella stated plainly. "Such names are, for examples, Sirius, Andromeda, Orion, and such." The two whose names were stated glanced at one another.

"This is because our family, as noble and respectable as it is," Walburga explained, "chooses to use names of astronomical features. It is an old tradition tracing far, far back." Cissa sat wide-eyed, as if amazed by the fact that there could be anything farther back than the generation of her parents.

"Precisely," Druella added to her sister's statement. "We expect you children to continue our age-old traditions." Cissa raised her hand. "Yes, Narcissa?"

"Where is Daddy?" she asked simply, her pale blue eyes, much too large for her small pale face, blinking in the innocence and curiosity that she so oozed.

"The men in the Black family," her aunt Walburga explained, "Have been thick-heads and seem not to care about our astronomical traditions. It is therefore critical that we snap Regulus and Sirius from this tradition of stupidity."

Cissa's lips form and O-shape as her sister Bella began to speak. "Well, I for one plan on continuing this tradition." Her own lips curled into a smirk of pure pride. Her hearts truest desire was, at the time, to make her family proud, and, she believed, as the oldest, doing so was her solemn duty.

"Good, Bella," Druella smiled and patted her oldest daughter's head affectionately, then looking at the other children. "If you choose not to use an astronomical name, use a superior name like Regulus, Bellatrix, or Narcissa." The listed children smiled.

"What about Nymphadora?" Andromeda asked innocently. She didn't want to displease her mother, but the name she asked stuck out in her mind.

"That's a beautiful name, Andromeda," her mother replied sweetly. She glanced at her youngest daughter Narcissa, thinking, _I wonder what my baby is thinking about naming her children._

_I wish we had pudding, _Narcissa thought, then giggled to herself. Her giggles stopped as she shifted uncomfortably, noticing her mother's gaze.

"Please, young ones," Walburga said, "Pass it on. Continue our amazing family traditions. Continue our legacies of pureblood and high stature. You five are our family's future."

The mothers glanced around at their children. They didn't know that in a short time, sweet, loyal Bellatrix would be a deranged ex-convict and devoted Death Eater. They had no way to tell that Andromeda would soil the family tree with muggle marriage. It was unpredictable that Sirius chose a life of rebellion or die a wanted man for a crime he did not commit. They did not know that Regulus would try to create his own way as he traveled down a lethal path. The Black family did not know that in the end, in a few short decades, Narcissa would be the devoted mother and wife of a Death Eater she turned out to be. With three dead and one disowned, Narcissa would be the last Black standing, and most definitely, it would not be by choice.


	3. The Sisters' Blood Pact

"Bella, where the Hell are you taking us?" It was dark, and the only thing leading Andromeda and Narcissa was the tug of Bellatrix's pulling on their wrists. Andromeda was growing impatient with her sister's secret agenda. The fourteen year old stopped in her tracks, causing her sisters to stop, too, and put her hands on her hips. "I'm not budging until I know where we're going," she added stubbornly.

"Firstly, don't cuss, Andromeda," Her two-year-older sister replied arrogantly. "Secondly, you'll see! Don't you trust me? I bet Cissy trusts me." Bellatrix turned to the seven-year-old blonde and asked pointedly, "Right, Cissy? Don't _you _trust me?"

Cissy's head bobbed to say "yes" and she mumbled, "Mh hm." Bellatrix's angry expression from Andromeda's lack of trust spun up into a smile of delight.

"See, Andromeda? Cissy trusts me, and she's only seven!" said Bellatrix, patting the blonde on the head affectionately yet harshly. "What a bright little thing this one is!"

"Fine, Bella," Andromeda allowed, "But if we're not there and back by dinner, I'll tell Mum you kidnapped us, and" - she turned to Narcissa - "if a particular seven year old tells them any different, she'll wish she hadn't." Narcissa gulped, but she knew Andromeda would never hurt her.

"Mkay!" Bella grinned and again grasped their wrists, pulling them forward again. After just a few more minutes of running through the dark, secret tunnels of the Black household, Bella stopped pulling. Andromeda and Narcissa found themselves in an abandoned corridor with no door. As a matter of fact, how they got in was a mystery to them.

On the floor as a triangle of interesting symbols. Narcissa was lost, but Andromeda recognized them from a course of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts. The corner Bellatrix kneeled behind featured the symbol of knowledge. The corner she motioned Cissy into had the symbol of emotion. And for Andromeda? She sat behind the final corner and the symbol of will-power. And, she now noticed, in the center of the triangle was a final symbol. This one also represented a word, but it made much more sense. It had a word that was supremely relevant to their own lives.

Sisters.

"Sisters, sit as I do, kneeling," Bella instructed, and the other two did so. "Now, hold your left hand above the symbol in the center." It was an easy reach; the triangle wasn't terribly large, and their hands overlapped with Narcissa's on top, Bella's on bottom, and Andromeda's in between. Bellatrix pulled her wand out from her sweater with her right hand and held it above their piled hands.

Before Andromeda could complain about the use of magic outside of school, Bellatrix began to speak. "Sisters," she said, "We are here to make a blood pact. We shall swear on all we know that we sisters cannot be separated by anything or anyone. I fear for us. It is not like an unbreakable vow; if you break it, the only thing that happens is a stinging sensation in the other two's hands."

Andromeda and her youngest sister eyed each other, not fully understanding why Bellatrix was so scared, but they both knew that it would be strengthening for their relationship.

"Let it commence," Bellatrix half-whispered before utterly murmuring these words: "Amor, factum iunxi nostra viscus, vinculum nostra animus. Servo cuius sanctimonialis."

Knowing it to be Latin, Andromeda repeated its rough translation in a whisper. "Love, act to unite our hearts, bond our souls… Save the sisters."

A sudden scream broke through the air, and Andromeda realized there were two cries ringing at the same time; one was Narcissa, and one was herself. She looked at their hands, still in a pile, and, seeing Narcissa's on top, noted a bloody, red gap in her hand. Then she noticed that Bella wasn't screaming with them; she was laughing. Andromeda tried to pull back, but Bella's other hand held them all together. When Bella let go, all three fell back and apart.

Andromeda glanced at her own hand, the top of hers also missing two or three layers of skin in a perfect circle, and there was blood on her palm, but that wasn't hers. It was Bella's, from where she, too, was cut. Cissy whimpered and looked her own palm, with a blood circle, too, of an Andromeda's blood. Andromeda glanced at Bella who held her hand palm-forward and beamed in a sinister way. Her palm was covered in blood, even though hers had been on the bottom. Somehow, Andromeda knew that the blood on her palm was Narcissa's.

"Are you mad?" Andromeda blurted, but Bella shook her head, and something inside Andromeda made her go quiet. Bella repositioned herself as she had been, but this time, she stuck out her right hand. Cautiously, Cissy did, too. Even though her cheeks were stained with tears from the pain of the first time, her eyes blank, she was ready for one more. Andromeda, with hesitance, did so, as well.

This time, the order was reversed. Bella was on top. Andromeda was still in the middle, and Narcissa was on bottom. Bella held her wand over their hands with her left hand, and blood trickled down her arm from her circular wound.

Again, she spoke Latin, but this time, it was different. "Exhibeo cuius vinculum ut nunquam adflicto. Sanctimonialis, sanctimonialis, pro Deus gratia… Sanctimonialis."

Again, in a whisper, Andromeda repeated in English. "Allow the bond to never break. Sisters, sisters, for God's sake...Sisters." Andromeda then cringed, waiting for the pain. This time, the blood of Narcissa was on her palm. Her own blood was on Bella, and Bella's blood was on Narcissa. Again, each featured a circular hole. However, no one flew back, and no one shed a tear. No one felt a thing.

"Sisters," Bella whispered, her bright eyes jolting up to scan from Andromeda to Narcissa, "We are now bonded. Forever."

_In their later years, the spell's powers was shown. The first time a sister felt the sting on betrayal. It was Andromeda who felt it, and it was when her sisters sided with her parents and chose never to speak to her again. Andromeda felt the sting at all of her happiest moments because the betrayal rang out. Narcissa felt the sting every time Bellatrix's Dark Mark burned, and so did Andromeda. The Mark was Bellatrix's sign of betrayal._

_Narcissa felt the sting occasionally, and when she felt it, it burned and stung, and she had to stop whatever she was doing. Her husband always pretended not to notice, not wanting to be involved in whatever the problem was. Andromeda had felt it so frequently that she barely noticed it anymore, but after wedding, she had felt it so strongly that her circular scars bled. Bellatrix never once felt the sting. She questioned if her spell had worked or not. _


End file.
